Responding to the criticisms

Following the extensive media criticism of the Church, a number of writers have offered responses to balance the media's reporting of scandal within the Church. A parishioner has recommended a piece in The Tablet by Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP (read it here). Other useful pieces include an article by Bishop James Conley of the Archdiocese of Denver (see here); George Weigel has written a helpful article here; former Holy See Press Officer Joaquin Navarro-Valls, who is also a doctor, has written a defence of the Pope here, and a Rabbi has spoken out against the media's coverage of the situation (see here). These and many other articles are available online, reminding us that there is another side to this story, even if it remains largely unreported by the secular media.

Chrism Mass 2010

This morning the diocesan Chrism Mass took place in the Cathedral, and the Lord blessed us with fine weather for the priests' annual walk through the Cathedral gardens. On these occasions the concelebrants tend to enter the Cathedral through the main west doors, and so form a public procession as they approach the church. At the Chrism Mass priests come, in many cases with some parishioners, from all parts of the Diocese. It is the occasion each year on which priests are asked to renew their commitment to service, and in this Year for Priests the Mass this renewal seemed particularly important. In his homily, the Bishop spoke about how the Holy Oils reveal the fundamental calling given to the priest. You can find the full text here.

After Mass, the three oils: the Oil of Catechumens, used just before baptism, the Oil of the Sick, used to anoint those who are ill, and the Oil of Chrism, which is used in baptism, confirmation and at ordinations, are distributed to the priests of the Diocese for them to take back to their own parish. The fact that all the oils used in the sacraments come from this one source reminds us of the unity of our Diocese. Now all those who came this morning have returned to their own parishes, ready to celebrate the great Triduum - the three days of Our Lord's suffering, death and resurrection. The Triduum begins here at the Cathedral with the Mass of the Lord's Supper, celebrated this evening at 7:30pm. The full Holy Week timetable can be found here.

Palm Sunday

Today we begin Holy Week, the high point of the Church's year. Mass at the Cathedral this morning began with a procession through the Cathedral gardens, after the reading of St Luke's account of Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem. For the next seven days we are called to accompany the Lord in His suffering, death and resurrection.

There are over twenty public services (liturgies and devotions) at the Cathedral during this week. This morning the Bishop, who will preside at five of these liturgies, celebrated the 10:30am Mass. It will be the first time that Bishop Campbell has celebrated Holy Week at the Cathedral; last year Bishop O'Donoghue presided, a few weeks ahead of his retirement.

You are most welcome to come to the Cathedral for the liturgies taking place this week. Of particular note for those outside the parish is the Diocesan Chrism Mass, which takes place on Thursday at 11:30am. You can find the full Holy Week timetable in the Cathedral Diary: click here.

Convent Chapel Windows

Today is the feast of the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and asked her to be the Mother of the Saviour. The scene is represented in one of the windows of the former convent chapel at the Cathedral (now referred to as "St Walburga's", and used mainly for catechesis). As you can see from this image, the window is quite badly faded, seemingly as a result of faulty glass-making techniques which were sometimes used in the early 1850s.

The other stained glass window on the same wall shows two independent scenes: on the left Our Lady as a child, being taught by her mother, St Anne; on the right, St John the Evangelist at work. It too has suffered over the years, with much of the detail lost. There are examples of this sort of deterioration in other churches; one notable example in the north of England is the glass in St Joseph's Chapel in the seminary at Ushaw, which dates from around the same time.

Papal Visit: details confirmed

Today details of the Holy Father's visit to Britain have been confirmed. The four-day trip will take place 16th-19th September, beginning in Scotland. The main public celebrations of Mass will be in Glasgow and Coventry; at the latter the Pope will beatify Cardinal Newman. The state visit - an historic first - also includes an address to civil leaders in Westminster Hall, where St Thomas More was sentenced to death in 1535. You can find many more details about the visit on the dedicated website which has been launched - click here to take a look. Also keep an eye on this blog for further news and developments, as the Cathedral parish makes its plans to see the Holy Father during his visit.

Saturdays during Lent

Although there haven't been too many posts on the blog recently, there is plenty going on behind the scenes, and a fair amount at parish level too. Our Tuesday evening talks on Holy Week are continuing, as are our Friday evening meditations on the Passion of the Lord. Saturdays, too, have an extra opportunity for Lenten prayer. Throughout the year the Rosary is prayed on Sunday afternoons in the Cathedral (Joyful Mysteries during Advent and Christmas, then the Mysteries of Light until Lent, and the Glorious Mysteries from Easter Sunday onwards), but during Lent this is replaced by Stations of the Cross. So that the Rosary is prayed publicly the whole year round, the Sorrowful Mysteries are now prayed during Exposition on Saturday mornings during Lent, beginning at 11:40am.

Also on Saturdays, we are now praying for God's blessing upon the forthcoming Papal visit, details of which are due to be announced shortly. Each Saturday until the visit, at the end of 12:15pm Mass, a short prayer is said for our country and prayers for the Holy Father's intentions are offered. Please pray for Pope Benedict in the months ahead, and if you haven't yet signed the petition set up to welcome him, you can find it here.

Choosing the Common Good

You may have seen reports during the week about the launch of a new document from the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. The document, Choosing the Common Good, was launched at a press conference on Wednesday. The pictures here are from the Bishops' Conference Flickr site and are (c) Mazur/catholicchurch.co.uk

Archbishop Nichols of Westminster and Archbishop Smith of Cardiff, chair and vice-chair of the conference, led the proceedings. The Archbishop of Westminster has also written the foreword to the document, which states that its purpose is to promote the good of all and a greater understanding of Catholic thinking, ahead of both the General Election and the papal visit.

The document deals with some of the key issues concerning the Church in our country today: the practice of virtue, the value of human life, globalisation and ecology, migration, marriage and the family, community cohesion, the consequences of the economic crisis and the right and duty of faith communities to make a contribution to the life of the country. It's a fairly concise document - about 20 pages in total - and we are encouraged to read it over the coming weeks. The full text can be downloaded from the Bishops' Conference website (click here).

Make the Pope welcome: sign the petition

As you will know, Pope Benedict is due to visit our country later this year. Details of the visit are still to be announced, but it seems likely to be a four-day visit in the middle of September, and we can expect to see the programme before too long. As news of the visit emerged, a number of secular groups got together to organise a petition against the event. Now a petition has been launched in support of the Holy Father. It takes less than a minute to sign up and show your support for the visit, so please take the time by clicking here and following the instructions. Thank you to Fr Chris Loughran of St Clare's, Preston, who notified us about this initiative.

March Diary

Happy St David's Day to all readers - especially if you have Welsh connections! Today, of course, is also the first day of March, so time for us to take a look ahead at what the month brings. Before we get to April we will be in Holy Week, so a busy few weeks lie ahead. It's a penitential time, of course, and so Lenten practices and devotions such as the Stations of the Cross give this month its character. Our Friday evening devotions, and our Tuesday night talks, 'Curious about Holy Week', continue through to the end of the month. A couple of feast days break the rigours of Lent: St Patrick (17th), St Joseph (19th) and the Annunciation of the Lord (25th). Some of the children of the parish will make their First Confession towards the end of the month, ahead of their First Communion in June. You can see the full March diary (and also the schedule for Holy Week) on the Cathedral website's main diary page: click here.

St Martin Fund

The story of St Martin, the fourth-century Bishop of Tours, tells us that as a young man he saw a man in need of clothing, and shared half his own cloak with the poor man. Last weekend the Cathedral parish launched a new 'St Martin Fund' as part of our charitable work. The fund will be used to support local families who are struggling to make ends meet. It will give practical help, rather than money directly (for example, it may pay for a gas/electricity card to be 'charged up') and will hopefully prove to be of assistance to those in great need. Parishioners have the opportunity to contribute to this fund at the end of each Sunday Mass during Lent.

The return of the Curious

We're now less than 40 days away from the greatest week in the Church's year. Holy Week is the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus, the very heart of our Christian faith. The Liturgy of Holy Week is the most powerful of all the Church's actions, and is rich in symbolism. A series of five talks on the liturgy of Holy Week gets underway this evening. The talks take place each Tuesday leading up to Holy Week, and begin at 7:30pm in St Walburga's (the Cathedral 'day chapel', accessed from Balmoral Road). There's no charge and everyone is welcome. This is the latest in our series of 'Curious about...' talks, which have built up something of a following in recent years. If you'd like to know more about the talks, click here.

Friday evening devotions in Lent

Yesterday our Lenten Friday evening devotions got underway. Each Friday during this holy season there will be Stations of the Cross at 7pm (followed by Exposition), a 15-minute meditation on the Passion of the Lord at 7:45pm, and sung Compline (night prayer) and Benediction at 8:15pm. The idea is that people can come for the whole time (about one and a half hours) or for any part of the evening. The meditations focus on the role of different characters in the Passion narratives. Last night's text looked at St Peter; still to come are Judas and the Pharisees (26th), Pontius Pilate (5th March), Simon, Veronica and the Holy Women (12th March), The Secret Disciples (19th March) and finally Our Lady (26th March). You are most welcome to join us for any of these Friday evenings. If you'd like to read last evening's meditation on St Peter's role in the Passion, you can find it here.

Cathedral School organ visits

A couple of weeks back many of the children at the Cathedral School had the chance to visit our newly-restored pipe organ. Guided by the Cathedral's Director of Music, Damian Howard, who also teaches music at the school, they learnt about the workings of the instrument. The children then had the chance to play a few notes, giving them a brief 'hands on' experience. Hopefully the visit will have deepened the children's appreciation of music in general, and - who knows - maybe it will have inspired some organists of the future! The Cathedral School Blog, which is regularly updated, has a couple more photos: click here to visit the site.

Ash Wednesday

Today, Ash Wednesday, the great season of Lent begins. It is a time of year that calls us to repentance, and its message seems to echo in the experience of the faithful. Each year, large numbers of people come to Mass on this day and are marked with ashes on their forehead.

Even before Mass it was obvious to those arriving that we are entering a new season. The Cathedral looks very bare: no flowers, some of the decoration removed. The starkness of Lent stands in stark contrast to the vibrancy of the Easter feast which follows.

After the Gospel reading, the Bishop blessed the ashes. He then knelt down as he received the ashes on his forehead, the first of those present to be marked with this sign of repentance.

The Bishop then marked the foreheads of the concelebrating priests; here the Cathedral Dean, Canon Stephen Shield, receives the ashes. This symbol is a Biblical sign of repentance and of sorrow for sins; it also reminds us of our mortality ("you are dust, and to dust you shall return") and therefore calls us to use well our time on earth.

The congregation then approached the Bishop and the priests to receive their ashes...

... forming queues in the central aisle and side aisles as they each symbolically declared their contrition for their failings. It is perhaps surprising - and also encouraging - that within the rites of the Church's year, it is not only the great feasts and celebrations to which people respond; this penitential act also draws people in great number.

After each person had been marked with the ashes, the Mass continued as usual. So it is that the great season of Lent is underway, and for the weeks ahead we keep a 40-day feast, following the example of Our Lord at the beginning of His ministry. If you haven't yet been to Mass, it's more than likely that your local parish has an evening celebration. The Cathedral's last Mass of the day is at 7:30pm.

Deacon Nolan with the Pope

Here's a little moment of joy, before the rigours of Lent set in tomorrow. A few weeks ago the students and staff of the Pontifical North American College, Rome, had a private audience with the Holy Father to mark the college's 150th anniversary. As well as listening to Pope Benedict's address, many of those present had the chance to see him close up. Deacon Nolan Lowry, who has strong ties with the Cathedral parish (he was last with us at Christmas), is seen here greeting the Holy Father. You can read more about the audience, and see some pictures and a short video, on the North American College website: click here for the relevant page.